B12 and Non-Human Animals

Summary

There are many ways that mostly, or completely, herbivorous animals can potentially
obtain B12 which are not available to vegans living in Western society.

Ruminants

Cows are ruminants, as are bison, buffalo, goats, antelopes, sheep, deer, and
giraffes (1). Ruminants have a four-chambered stomach and a rich supply of
bacteria in their rumen (the first chamber that their food enters) (1). Some of
these bacteria produce B12 in amounts normally sufficient to meet their needs (2).

Primates

Non-human primates typically eat small amounts of eggs, insects, and small vertebrates
and/or soil (3). Gorillas, possibly the closest to vegan of all the species closely
related to humans, eat insects (3, 4) and sometimes feces (5).

Herbivores

Horses, elephants, zebras, rabbits, hares, and many rodents have large cecums in their
digestive tracts, located between the small and large intestine (1) where
bacterial fermentation takes place. Some sources say that all non-ruminant herbivores
require some B12 fortification of their feeds (2), but at least one source says
that bacteria in a horse's digestive tract are able to produce enough B12 if there is enough
cobalt in the diet (6).

Many wild herbivores, such as elephants (7), inadvertently ingest soil on a
regular basis. Hares, rabbits, and some rodents eat their fecal pellets, which provide an opportunity to obtain vitamins
produced by bacteria in their digestive tracts (1).

Cobalt is Necessary for Bacterial Production of B12

The availability of B12 for animals who rely on bacterial synthesis of B12 (rather than
getting it from animal foods) is dependent on cobalt levels in the soil. Citing an article
from the Annals of the New York Academy of Science (1964;112:735-55),
Crane et al. (8) point out that some soils in Australia, New Zealand, Britain,
Canada, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Kenya, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Russia, and the USA
have insufficient cobalt for adequate B12 formation. They state, "This is a major concern of
ours because vegans commonly seem to hold to the concept that all essential nutrients will be
supported in foods from non-animal sources. They fail to realize that plants can grow readily
in soil that is too low in cobalt for bacterial action to supply animals with sufficient B12."